Are you Smarter than a 2nd Grader?

After being home from Disneyland for 1 1/2 weeks, we packed up the car (andAaron's Mom, Loyce) and drove to Cleveland. We knew it was going to be a long trip so we brought games, movies and food for the road. Sadly we forgot our 2nd grade reading comprehension primer that apparently would have come in very handy.

Only a few hours into our journey, as we sped east thru sunny Wyoming, we spotted a sign that said:

Road Closed Ahead.

Hmmm. It was so puzzling. What could this sign really mean? After all, we were on I-80. The "I" stands for Interstate. Not the kind of road you can just "close". Especially not on a sunny day in May. Its not like some abominable snowstorm was ravaginging the entire area near Cheyenne preventing ANY alternate routes. We decided the sign must have MEANT to say: Road Closed Ahead, Alternate Provided, and we continued on our merry way.

We remained sure of our conclusion even after being presented with about 10 additional versions of the above sign, all worded differently yet failing to mention an alternate route. Our spirits were not dampened when dark looming clouds hid the sun and snow began to swirl in the air around our van. We didn't lose hope when we started passing truck after truck parkeed by the side of te road - truckers give us so easily, don' they? In fact, we weren't completely clear on the meaning of the sign until we got to the police road block and had to have it explained to us VERY directly. (Did the officer really have to be so rude? Its not like we're idiots - oh wait ...)

Perhaps if we had learned our lesson we would have booked a room in the closest hotel, wated for the storm to pass and continued on the next morning. Instead, we decided to change the world to fit OUR version of reality and back-tracked to find the closest alternate route. 5 hours later as we stared with amazed deja vu at our alternate's "Road Closed Ahead" sign we did what any reasonable person would do. We took the sign at its word, turned the car around, and found the nearest hotel. Horray for a college education.